Time to Say Goodbye
by Sophia Hawkins
Summary: A completely AU reworking of events from "Best Friend Magic". Otis is alive and well in this one.
1. Chapter 1

Time to Say Goodbye

"So how long is Severide going to be working at OFI?" Otis asked Casey as he and Cruz followed the captain down the corridor.

"He said it was just until they clear their backlog, then he'll be back," Casey answered.

"Yeah good luck with that," Cruz said, "we know how many fires _we_ respond to, and we're _one_ house in the whole city. At this rate he ain't ever gonna come back."

"Well then you might want to look into taking the lieutenant's exam, Cruz," Casey commented.

"Not anytime soon, I've got more orders coming in for the Slammigan than I know what to do with," Joe replied, "my ship is finally coming in."

"Yeah, one tugboat at a time," Otis joked.

Cruz grunted and reached over to elbow him in the ribs.

And both men just about knocked Casey to the floor as the captain suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

"Oh my God," Casey said.

"What is it?" Otis asked.

Casey didn't answer, he just raised an arm and pointed a finger towards the apparatus floor.

Both men looked, and they saw what Casey saw.

Gabby Dawson.

Casey quickly took several steps backwards and turned and disappeared back in the firehouse.

"What do you think that's about?" Cruz asked.

"I don't know, but let's go see what _this_ is about," Otis gestured out to the driveway.

* * *

"Hey guys," Kelly said as he slammed the door on his Mustang.

"Please tells us you're back on at 51," Otis said.

"I wish," Kelly responded, "I need to talk to Casey about a fire we responded to a few months ago. Is he here?"

"He's here but he's not available," Otis answered.

"What does that mean?" Kelly asked.

"Casey is...Cruz, what's the word I'm looking for?" Otis turned to his roommate.

"Hiding."

Kelly did a double take, "From what?"

"From that."

Kelly turned where they were pointing and felt his eyebrows jump halfway up his forehead as he saw Gabby talking to Chief Boden.

"What's she doing back here?" Kelly asked.

"She just showed up, she's here for some fundraiser for Puerto Rico," Otis answered.

"And she's also looking for Casey," Cruz added.

"Who as we said, is currently-"

"Hiding."

"Where?" Kelly asked.

"Somewhere he doesn't think she'll find him," Otis answered.

Kelly thought for a minute, and he had an idea where that would be.

* * *

"It's okay, it's just me," he said as he entered the turnout room and saw Casey standing beside a row of coats.

"Who told you?" Casey wanted to know, sounding annoyed at being found out.

"I had a feeling you were in here," Kelly said as he pulled the door shut behind him.

"Why would you?"

Kelly kept to himself how this was where he and Nicki Rutkowski came during their on-shift escapades, since it was the least likely place in the firehouse for anyone to walk in on them. It had actually been a few years since he'd even thought about it, in fact he tended to think about that whole period of his life as little as possible; between that, his broken neck, the lengths he went to to hide it from everyone, putting Shay's job at risk to get him painkillers, coping with Darden's death by attacking Casey and blaming him for it, it definitely was not one of the proudest moments in his life.

"You talk to her?" Kelly asked.

"No," Casey answered. "Did you?"

"Nope, I don't think she saw me come in," he answered. "_Are_ you gonna talk to her?"

"Not if I have a choice," Matt answered. "I can guess what she wants to talk about." He started pacing in the room, then suddenly stopped and told Severide, "It's not fair, our divorce was finalized a year ago, I've finally moved on from her, I'm getting my life in order, and now she's come back to mess it all up again."

"It doesn't sound like she's staying in town long, Casey," Kelly told him.

"It doesn't matter and you know it," Casey replied. "Things never change. Not with Gabby. She's here for a reason, she wants to see me, she's hoping I'll overlook the how and why our whole marriage fell off a cliff, and that I'll have missed her, and be so glad to see her again-"

"Did you?" Kelly asked. "Are you?"

Casey looked at him. There was no judgment in Kelly's questions, just simple curiosity.

"I don't know. There are times...I remember how good it used to be...then I remember those were so few and far between all the fights we had and all her ultimatums and her complete disregard for my opinion anytime she decided to do something major that affected _both_ our lives." He leaned against the wall and sighed, "I could never forgive her for those things and if I can't forgive her then there could never be anything between us again. No...I'm glad she's alive, I'm glad she seems to be okay but I am _not_ glad that she's here, I'm _not_ glad to see her again. Every time she comes around my life gets turned upside down again and I can't do it anymore. I just can't."

Kelly looked at him and nodded. "I get it, I do, but if you know this, then what would be the worst thing that could happen if you just talked to her? Just find out what it is she wants, then you'll _know_, and you can figure out what you want to do."

Casey looked at him and said nothing for a minute, then he raised an eyebrow and asked Kelly, "What're you doing here anyway?"

"Current report I'm working on is a structure fire we handled six months ago, when you get done with Gabby, I need to talk to you about it."

"Let's do it now and-"

Kelly shook his head, "Go talk to her, Matt, maybe you'll get lucky and the bells will go off halfway through."

"Kelly..."

"I'll still be here, go on," he told him.

* * *

Kelly checked his watch. 10 minutes almost exactly. Well, Casey lasted longer than he thought he would. He saw the captain speed-walking towards him.

"She gone?"

"Yup."

"How'd it go?"

"Fine," was Casey's barbed answer.

"So what'd she want?" Kelly asked.

"I'll tell you after shift," Casey said.

"Oh," Kelly knew that meant it was serious.

"Let me check my records and I'll be right with you, what's the address of the fire?" Casey asked.

* * *

Kelly had already left for OFI when Casey came home the next morning. He had nothing planned for the day, and they'd been out on calls most of the night, so he made himself at home, collapsed on his bed and slept all morning and into the early afternoon. In the late afternoon, Casey palled around the kitchen getting dinner ready for when Severide got home, as he stepped from the stove to the counter to the table to check on everything, he occasionally dipped a spoon in an open jar of peanut butter and stuck it in his mouth while he was waiting for dinner to get ready. With the spoon in his mouth he opened the door to the oven and peeked in. At this rate, he'd go through the whole jar before the chicken ever got done.

Casey scooped up another spoonful of creamy honey peanut butter and just bit down on the spoon when he heard the front door open, a few seconds later Kelly was in the kitchen and paused at the sight before him.

"Well I'm glad to see your diet's improving," Kelly said with a laugh.

Casey tossed the spoon into the sink and asked, "So, how was work?"

"Mind numbing," Kelly answered, "sorry I missed you this morning."

"That's okay."

"So, what about Dawson?" Kelly asked.

"I was hoping you forgot," Casey admitted.

"Nope, what was it?" Kelly was just like a dog with a bone on the matter.

Casey sighed, "She's in town for this fundraiser for Puerto Rico...it's a fancy dinner at a ballroom with a live orchestra and they charge about $100 a plate."

"And?"

"And she asked me to go," Casey said as he turned his back to Kelly to tend to the food.

"And?" Kelly prodded.

"I _told_ her I'd think about it," Casey answered.

"_And_?" Kelly asked.

"I'm not going."

"Yes!" Kelly threw his head back in a victory cry.

Casey turned and looked at him.

"What?"

"You thought I'd say yes?"

"I was _hoping_ you wouldn't," Kelly explained, "but like you said, we know how Gabby is."

"But _now_ what do I do?" Casey asked, "She's going to want an answer, she'll want an explanation."

"And she knows where you live so she'll definitely be stopping by," Kelly added.

"Oh God," it was obvious that Casey hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"What am I going to do?" he asked hopelessly.

"Well I've got a couple ideas that can get you out of it if you want," Kelly said.

Casey looked at him. "You do?"

"Doesn't hurt to plan ahead, right? Anyway let me think about it a bit and I'll get back to you on them."

"Well...okay..." Casey went to the oven and opened the door, "looks like dinner's ready."


	2. Chapter 2

"Okay, so I've got an idea how to handle the charity dinner," Kelly said as he entered the living room that night.

"What?" Casey asked.

"Well, it would definitely kill any of Gabby's plans if you show up with a date, right?"

"I'm not dating anyone," Casey pointed out.

"She doesn't have to know that, just as long as you had some woman to show up with."

"Who? It can't be anyone that Gabby knows, so Brett's out. She doesn't know Foster, but you'd never get _her_ to go along with it."

"Well..." Kelly spoke in a tone that said he already knew this could potentially blow up in his face, "I happen to know someone who'd probably do it."

"Who?"

"You remember that woman Seager from OFI?"

Casey snorted, "She has a way of making her presence known." He blinked. "You're not going to talk her into this, Kelly."

"I don't think I have to," Severide responded, "she already asked me about you."

"What?" Casey did a double take. "What do you mean asking about me?"

"How we know each other, if you're seeing anyone, she's interested."

"Uh, no," Casey shook his head, "I saw her, she's interested in _you_. That has been pretty obvious since day one."

"Well she's asking about _you_," Kelly said, "so I bet she'd go along with it."

"Yeah, but if you're right, then she's going to expect something for it," Casey pointed out. "What?"

Kelly shrugged, "We could deal with that later. I can make it clear that this is _just_ for show, _just_ so you don't have to show up alone."

"Think she'll go along with it?"

"I can ask."

"Ask quick," Casey told him.

* * *

"Seager, can I ask you a question, kind of personal?" Kelly asked the next day when they had a moment alone.

"And you're thinking to yourself 'Damn, I should ask this chick out before someone else does'," she said with a big knowing smirk.

"Not exactly," he replied.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"Two questions actually. One, do you own a dress?"

Her eyebrows raised. "That supposed to mean something?"

"Well, second question, do you have any plans for tomorrow night?"

"I knew it," she said.

"Not me...you remember my roommate you were asking about?"

"You're asking me out _for_ him?" she asked.

"Not quite...see his ex is back in town and invited him to this charity thing, and, let's just say she needs a hint the size of a doghouse to drop on her before she'll finally get the point. If he actually shows up with someone else, it would send the message a lot better than if he just told her himself."

"Ohhhh," she said in a smug tone, "So this is just for the ex's benefit, huh?"

"Will you do it?" Kelly asked.

She sighed an exhale and looked at him determinedly and said, "It's lucky for both of you that I'm a good sport and I just got a new dress to show off."

* * *

Casey's heart was in his stomach as he entered the room. He looked around but it was easy to spot Gabby in the black dress she was wearing, she wrapped up what she was saying to someone and made her way over to him.

"Matt, I'm glad you could make it."

"Uh yeah, look Gabby, there's something I have to say," he struggled to actually get the words out.

"Sure, why don't we get a drink?"

"Well that's just it, I'm not-"

"Kelly?" Gabby did a double take at the Squad lieutenant who entered the room in a dress suit with a dark haired woman in a tight short red dress on his arm.

"Sorry we're late, we got stuck in traffic," Kelly said as they went over to Casey and Gabby.

"I didn't know you were coming too," Gabby blinked, "this is great, so this is..."

"I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding," Seager said as she stepped away from Kelly and latched onto Casey's arm, "I'm with Matt."

Gabby blinked, several times, "W-what?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Casey said, and that's all the further he got.

"Hi, I'm Wendy Seager, you must be Gabby Dawson," Seager extended her hand but Gabby didn't take it, "I can't really say I've heard a lot about you but then again Matt and I don't tend to focus on the past."

Gabby blinked again and turned to Casey, with a very confused look on her face, "M-Matt?"

"Yeah, sorry to drop this on you like this," Casey said, "Gabby, this is Wendy, Wendy, this is Gabby Dawson."

"I got that already," Seager replied, "well, are we sitting together or separate?"

"Uh..." Gabby's face got pinched up and she looked like a peekapoo getting ready to bite, then she forced a big smile that looked like she was about to have a stroke and she choked out the words, "Matt, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uhh," Casey stood his ground, "anything you have to say...you can say right here..."

"Oh no," she shook her head and grabbed his arm, "no, trust me, I can't."

"Come on," Seager said, "we'll all head to the bar and talk over a drink."

"Actually," Gabby told her, "I'd prefer to speak with Matt alone."

"Oh what a shame," Wendy replied as she grabbed Casey's other arm, "because he's with me tonight."

The two women stared at each other for a minute and nobody spoke. Then Seager finally broke the silence telling Gabby, "And now you're thinking, 'Damn, how did he get a hot woman like that?'"

Gabby finally let go of Matt's arm and said through clenched teeth and puffed cheeks, "Fine, let's go to the bar."

"Have fun!" Kelly called as he waved goodbye and got ready to leave.

* * *

The three of them sat at the bar in an awkward silence, well, awkward for two of them, Seager casually sipped a glass of wine as if she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

"So..." Gabby said, trying to remain civil, "how long have you two been...dating?"

"Oh a couple months," Seager said before Casey had the chance to open his mouth.

Gabby looked at her and slightly nodded, "And...how exactly did you two...meet?"

"Well I guess you could say we worked a case together," Wendy answered. "51 responded to a house fire, found it was caused by a couch made of polyurethane, got the name of the furniture manufacturer who was skirting on the limits of safety regulations and we staked out the building waiting for the CEO to show his face."

Gabby arched one eyebrow and looked at Seager inquisitively, "And...what was your connection to the case?"

"Christopher Herrmann staged a sit-in to wait for the CEO to step outside, word got out to everybody, including Severide, who's working with me at OFI, so naturally I showed up to see what was going on. That's where we met, and we've been just about inseparable since." She turned her head to Casey and asked, "Isn't that right, Matt?"

Casey merely nodded as he swallowed his beer. When his glass was empty he murmured, "Excuse me, I'll be back in a minute," and got up to find the men's room.

While he was gone, Seager half turned on her stool and looked at Gabby smugly and said to her, "Now you're thinking, 'Damn, I had a good thing going with a great guy, and I blew it, and now he's got a new life with a _fine_ woman, who treats him with the respect he deserves'."

"I don't believe that you two are together," Gabby said.

"Oh what, you think I'm just here to make you jealous?" Seager replied. "Well, I guess I could see how that'd be possible." She adjusted the way she sat and leaned back slightly, accentuating her better attributes filling out her dress. "Hell, if I was you, I'd be jealous of me. Jealous of that fine man I got. Jealous, that it's _my_ name he's screaming at night, that I leave him coming back for more, jealous, that you're just a bad memory now." Seager's words got more deliberate as she watched the slowly changing expression on Gabby's face as she seemed to get more enraged with every syllable. Seager tilted her head back and laughed once, haughtily, and added, "So what, you walk out for a year and think you can just mosey back on in and it'll be like nothing changed? That Matt's _still_ gonna be waiting around for you to come back so you can walk all over him again?"

"Okay," Gabby got out over an unamused laugh, "I've have it with you."

"Good, because I already had it with you," Seager picked up her half empty wine glass and tossed the rest of her drink on the front of Gabby's black dress.

Gabby gasped loudly, and was in shock for a couple seconds, but she recovered and reached over and slapped Seager across the face. Wendy let out a small sound, then turned back towards Gabby and punched her square in the nose. Gabby let out a yelp of pain, then was to her feet, as was Seager.

Gabby let out a louder and longer yell as Seager grabbed two handfuls of the hair on the back of Gabby's head and jerked it, she retaliated by grabbing at Seager's hair though it was shorter and harder to get a firm grip on. For a minute they were evenly pitted against each other before Seager used her body weight and a swift momentum to swing Gabby to the side and throw her to the floor. Gabby was quick to get back to her feet and she charged Seager and the two went down and were rolling around on the floor screaming and cursing each other. Seager rolled on top of Gabby, grabbed her by the hair to jerk her head up and punched her in the face. Gabby grabbed at the front of Seager's dress and ripped it open, the distraction was only a second, but it was enough for Gabby to throw Wendy off of her and get to her feet. Seager stuck her leg out at just the right time to trip Gabby and she went facedown. Seager took that opportunity to take off one of her high heels, throw herself over Gabby's legs and use her heel to beat Gabby on the ass repeatedly with. Gabby screamed and yelped and struggled to get out from under the woman pinning her, but it was an exercise in futility as Seager continued hitting her in the butt with her shoe.

* * *

Casey opened the door to Kelly's bedroom and groggily made his way through the dark over to the bed where Kelly lay in it, laughing continuously in his sleep.

Casey leaned over Severide and nudged him to rouse him, "Kelly...hey Kelly, wake up!"

Half of a laugh caught in Kelly's throat and he choked on it as he opened his eyes and saw Casey standing over him.

"What is it?" he asked as he came around, then he seemed to realize where he was and he sat up, "What's going on?"

"I could hear you laughing all the way over in my room, and since I knew you didn't bring anybody home with you tonight I thought I better find out what's going on," Casey said. "What is it?"

Kelly paused for a second and it came back to him, "Oh man, Casey, I just had this...hilarious dream."

"What about?" Casey tiredly asked as he went around to the other side of the bed and climbed in, figuring it was going to take a while.

"I dreamt we managed to talk Seager into going with you to that charity dinner thing of Gabby's, and the two of them got into a real cat fight, just, rolling around on the floor and beating the shit out of each other, it was great," Kelly was laughing so hard as he recalled it, he could hardly breathe. "And then," his breaths were coming out in high pitched wheezes and gasps, "Seager took her shoe off and was beating Gabby on the ass with it, it was..."

He turned his head and saw Casey had fallen asleep on the other side of the bed and was already dead to the world, the covers pulled up high and his breaths slow and even.

Kelly's mood died down gradually until he was breathing normally again and could actually talk, and he said, "Well it _was_ a great dream." He watched his best friend as he slept, and after a few seconds he told the blonde captain, "I'll tell you about it in the morning." He reached over and patted Casey on the back of his head and told him, "Goodnight, buddy."


	3. Chapter 3

"So?" Casey asked the next morning.

"So what?" Kelly asked.

"You said you had a couple ideas to get me out of going with Gabby to this fundraiser, what are they?" Casey asked.

Kelly had to think for a minute. It was hard to believe that everything last night had just been a dream regarding Seager. True he had entertained the thought of getting a woman to just go with Casey and act like his date, but after that dream, he was starting to think that might _not_ be such a good idea. As funny as the dream was, the scary part was he could just picture her doing that.

So, that left plan B.

"Okay," Kelly said, "here's what I'm thinking."

* * *

"This is pathetic," Casey said.

"Nah, you'll catch up in the next round," Kelly replied as he shook the tray with the lettered dice on it. "But good luck finding a word that beats 'toboggan'."

"That's not what I mean," Casey said as he stepped away from the window and walked back towards the couch, "I'm talking about the fact I'm 40 years old and I'm _hiding out_ from my ex-wife in your cabin, because I can't stand to face her and tell her I don't want to go to her stupid banquet, that I don't want any part in anything she's doing, because I don't want to see her again, because she walked out on our marriage, because she was never an equal partner in our marriage to begin with. If I don't even have the balls to confront her about that and set the record straight, what does that say about me?"

"Hey," Kelly said as he set the tray down and removed the lid, "If Gabby was my ex-wife, I'd hide too, only I wouldn't stop here." He pointed his finger towards the window and told Casey, "I'd head over there."

Casey went over to the window and looked out and couldn't see what Kelly was talking about.

"Kelly, what are you pointing at?" he asked cluelessly.

Without missing a beat Kelly answered, "The horizon."

Casey laughed.

"What's wrong with me, Kelly?" he asked somberly.

"For one thing you have the attention span of a squirrel," Severide answered.

"I'm serious," Casey said, "why is it I can't ever see Gabby without turning into a jellyfish and letting her walk all over me? If you hadn't gotten me out of the apartment I just _know_ I would've said yes and I would've gone with her to the charity ball."

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Matt," Kelly responded, "Gabby has a unique gift, she's a charismatic narcissist. She could talk anybody into anything, and she always _did_."

"So how'd you see through it when nobody else could?" Casey wanted to know.

"Easy, I've been burnt enough by psychotic women that by now I'm immune to charismatic narcissists," Kelly answered.

Casey let out a small melancholic chuckle.

"You did the right thing," Kelly told him, "You didn't lead her on and you made it clear you didn't want to go. You don't always have to do a face to face confrontation to send the message."

"But it looks like I chickened out."

"Who cares what it looks like?" Kelly asked. "You know the truth, so do I."

"Word's gonna get back to everyone at 51, what then?"

"Who's gonna know?"

"Everybody, everybody saw her, everybody knows why she came to the firehouse," Casey said.

"So, you had the flu, I can vouch for it because I was there holding the bucket."

Casey laughed weakly.

"Everybody knows you two got divorced, everybody knows your marriage is over," Kelly pointed out.

"And everybody expects us to get back together just because she shows up again," Casey replied.

"Doesn't mean you have to," Kelly told him.

"I don't want to," Casey said.

"Then that's the only thing that matters."

"What I wanted never mattered with Gabby," Casey reminded him.

Kelly looked at him and didn't say anything immediately, then he responded, "Well it does now."

Casey looked at him and was also silent for a moment, then he told Severide, "You're a good friend, Kelly."

"I'm the best," he said teasingly.

"Where's my phone?"

"Someplace safe, I already told you that."

"You know she's going to be sending about a hundred texts wondering where I am," Casey said.

"Doesn't mean you have to answer. If you keep trying to reach somebody and they don't answer, that's a huge sign that they don't want to talk to you," Kelly commented. "If you want her to get the point that it's over, you have to stop responding every time she messages you."

"I don't like it, Kelly."

"I know, but if it has to be done, that's all there is to it."

There was a moment of silence between them as Casey thought about what Kelly was saying.

"Come on," Kelly said as he reached for the sand timer, "Let's start the next game."

* * *

Kelly had hidden Casey's cell phone in the light hanging from the ceiling in the bathroom. Casey stood on the counter for the sink and had to stretch to reach it, but he finally grabbed it and pulled it out, and turned it on. Kelly had fallen asleep on the couch an hour ago, and Casey had quietly been tearing up the cabin to find his phone. He just had to know what had happened, what Gabby had said. As it came on he was met with a notice of 15 unread messages, biting the bullet he scrolled through them one by one. They ranged from 'Call me' to 'R U coming?' to 'Where are you?' to 'Why won't you answer me?', and several other messages in between.

Casey found it a little harder to breathe actually seeing all the messages, automatically feeling a need to reply, to explain the situation, _hoping_ that she would understand, but he knew that wouldn't work, she wouldn't get it, and they would just dance around in circles and never get anywhere, and he would never be able to move on with his life.

He picked the last message, which was a couple hours old, to respond to, and he thought for a minute about what he was going to say, to make sure that he had the right words picked, knowing it had to be just right, there was no room for errors.

He sucked in a deep breath, and closed his eyes, and wished he was anywhere else and didn't have to do this. But he forced himself to type out the message, short and to the point.

'Goodbye Gabby.'

He tapped 'send', and just like that, it was all over.

* * *

Kelly woke up because his neck got stiff from sleeping cockeyed on the couch and it was killing him. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and rolled his neck one way, and the other, trying to get it to loosen up. He'd just realized that Casey wasn't in the living room when he heard something, a faint sound, coming from the general direction of the bathroom. Still half asleep, he got up and rubbed his eyes as he headed over to the door.

"Casey?"

He pushed the door open and stopped when he saw Casey seated on the rim of the bathtub, one hand over his face as he tried to stifle the soft cries that were breaking loose, the other hand still clutching his phone.

"Casey, what did you do?" Kelly asked as he closed the gap between them by crossing over to the tub in five steps.

Casey offered no resistance as Kelly took his phone away. He looked to see what Casey had sent to Gabby, and he just stared at the screen for a minute.

He sat down beside Casey on the edge of the tub and put an arm around Casey's shoulders.

"It's okay, buddy, you did the right thing."

A few small sobs got out before he could actually talk. "It really _is_ over, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Kelly said. "That's what you wanted."

"I know..." Casey reluctantly answered, "I know..."

"But it doesn't make it any easier, I know," Kelly told him. He remembered only too well his own fair share of breakups, sometimes they were mutual, sometimes he had to take the first step, it was never easy, but he hadn't been married to any of them for 2 years, that had to make it all the more complicated. There had been _nothing_ simple about their relationship, not even when it finally ended, not even now over a year later.

* * *

Casey was aware of the sensation of something lightly touching him, like a bug landing on him, here, gone, here, gone, here, there, gone again, he finally opened his eyes to see what it was and he saw Kelly leaning over him, a Cheshire cat grin on his face.

"What the hell are you doing?" Casey groggily asked.

Kelly laughed, "Sorry, buddy, couldn't resist messing with you a little." On the last word he dug his fingertips into Casey's scalp and messed up his hair.

"Cut that out!" Casey said as he sat up, and realized he was on the couch in the living room. "Huh?"

"Sleep well?"

Casey had no idea how to answer that question. Kelly walked over to the window and looked out at the scenery that was gradually becoming lighter, the sun would be up soon.

"Benny always loved coming out here, he said the fresh air helped clear your head, made it easier to think."

"Think or drink?" Casey asked.

Kelly chuckled, "Knowing him, probably both."

The two had a good laugh at that.

"So you feeling better today?" Kelly asked.

Casey thought, and everything slowly came back to him. "Some...you think Gabby's going to be at 51 today?"

"When was she leaving today?"

"She said Friday morning, so..."

"She probably won't have time then," Kelly said.

"I hope not," Casey said as he got up from the couch.

"Come on, we've got a long drive back," Kelly told him, "And I've got an idea."

* * *

The tires to Kelly's Mustang squealed as he sped up the driveway to 51 and parked just a few feet short of the doors, Casey hopped out with his bag slung over his shoulder and ran up the apparatus floor. Cruz and Otis took notice of this and made their way out to the blue car before Kelly could back out.

"Hey Severide, you back on yet?" Cruz asked as he leaned down and folded his arms against the window.

"Not yet," Kelly answered with a grunt, "Casey's pickup quit on him this morning so I gave him a ride in. Has Dawson been by today?"

"No," Otis replied, "we haven't seen her since she was here the other day."

"Too bad, I was hoping to see her before she headed back to Puerto Rico," Kelly said. "I gotta get going, see you round."

Cruz stepped back and tapped the roof of the car and the two firefighters waved as Kelly backed down the driveway, then turned and headed back the way he'd come.

Severide hoped that Casey didn't spend too much time brooding over what happened. He knew he'd given Casey a good head start to recovery anyway, during the night he'd deleted all the texts from Gabby, give Casey a bit of a clean slate to start with. He knew Matt had done the right thing by letting Gabby know it was over, and he knew it would be a little while before Casey was fully convinced of that himself, but he knew in time it would all start to come together for Matt.

As he headed to OFI for another day's work, he thought of something, took out his phone with one hand and dialed Casey's number.

"What is it, Severide?"

"Just had a quick question for you. By any chance-"

"Kelly, I am _not_ going out with Seager."

"Just thought I'd ask," Kelly said, "I have a feeling she could be a real _live_ one."

"So could an electric eel," Casey replied, "No-thank-you."

"Okay, just checking," Kelly said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, okay. Hey, thanks for everything."

"No problem, buddy."


End file.
